Sunday, August 26, 2007

As my last prompt for my week of blog prompts at DID I asked "Why blog?" Tell us why you first started blogging and why do you keep it going?

I first started a private blog to keep my husband who travels a fair bit and my parents who also like to travel up to date with what we were up to. They could read about what we'd been doing and look at some photos and I still have this blog. After a while I also wanted to share a little bit of my life, and scrapping with a wider audience so now I have this blog which is a mix of a little bit personal and layouts. I also use it to promote the CT kits I work with so once I 've finished my layouts I usually post a kit review, a preview, and my layouts. I usually post to a blog train after my CT posts so I get a few more readers - LOL.

Saturday, August 25, 2007

For today's blog prompt I want to see and read what's happening today. So go and take some photos - show and tell us about what is happening in your life today. Of course if you do this prompt on another day make the photo from that day - LOL.

Today we started making costumes for the girls book week dress-up day on Monday. They have to pick a character from a book, then dress-up as the character and bring the book with them. The whole school does a parade in their costumes. Sara is going as Angelina Ballerina, this is a photo of her painting some mouse ears to put on her headband.

Friday, August 24, 2007

For todays blog prompt I thought we'd just have a bit of fun and do one of those silly quizzes - so go here and find out "What your superpower should be"

Her's mine:

Your Superpower Should Be Manipulating Electricity

You're highly reactive, energetic, and super charged.If the occasion calls for it, you can go from 0 to 60 in a split second.But you don't harness your energy unless you truly need to.And because of this, people are often surprised by what you are capable of.

Why you would be a good superhero: You have the stamina to fight enemies for days

Your biggest problem as a superhero: As with your normal life, people would continue to underestimate you

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Blog prompt for today is "Share something you would like to do or achieve."

One goal I have is to swim in the Rip View Classic which is a 1.4 km open water swim at Pt Lonsdale each Christmas holidays. I hope to do it either this year or next year ,depending on whether I can get in some training before the event. Ethan is only at kinder two half days at the moment so I'm still pretty tight for time to myself.

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

For the blog prompt today I want everyone to show their favourite layout - one of your own layouts, tell us what you like about.

I actually found this really hard to pick because different pages tend to have different strong points - some have a striking design, some good photography, others have interesting journalling or a clever title. I finally went with "Hayley in You Own Words" and the bonus is that I haven't put it up on my blog yet.

I like painting outside, jumping on the ball on the trampoline and being mum in “mums and dads”. My best friends are Nicola, Anna, Simone and Marnie. My favourite food is tacos, nachos and pasta. One thing I wouldn’t like about being an adult is driving the car because if you break the rules the police will put you in gaol.

It is actually a lifts with a twist page I did. I love this photo of Hayley, I love that I've managed to record some of Hayley's own thoughts (I did an interview) and I like the colours too. I look forward to seeing everyone else's favourite layouts.

Monday, August 20, 2007

For the blog prompt today I thought we'd play a little game that we sometimes play with the kids called Good, Bad and Curious. What I want you to do is select something that is in the room you are in at the moment list the good, bad and curious things about that object.

I have a TV next to me:

Good:Catch up on the newsLearn about new things, people and placesEntertainmentWe can watch our family videos and photosIt keeps the kids quiet

Bad:Don't talk to people as muchReduced exerciseCommercialsFalse informationThe kids may see things that we don't want them to seeUses electricty which costs money and causes pollution

Curious:How can we tell if something on TV is real or pretend?How do they decide which programs to show?Why does my head get fuzzy when I watch too much TV?Why are the ads after midnight all for sleezy phone lines and dodgy home shopping?

I'm running this weeks blog prompts at DID - hope I can keep a bit more up to date than last week LOL.

For my first one I thought I'd ask the question "How many houses have you lived in? Tell us about your favourite or worst and are you someone who likes to move often or not?"

So far I have lived in 3 houses. The first I only lived in for less than a year while Dad built our family home. I then lived in our childhood home until I got married. While we were there dad renovated twice and bought the blocks on either side as well. My mum's mum lived in her own house on the block next door so that was good to have a grandparent close when I was growing up. With the three blocks it made an acre of land so when we ere young there was plenty of room to play and we also lived next to the farm that was part of the school my sisters and I went to and a park with a playground. It really was your ideal family home.

When I got married we moved into a 1930's art deco weatherboard which is gorgeous but getting a little bit squeezy at the moment. We are hoping to renovate if the council will let us because we have a heritage overlay on our street. I'd hate to move beacuse I really love our area and we have a great backyard for the kids and I'm someone who hates to move house.

And now something completely silly "What Colour Crayon Are You"

You Are a Yellow Crayon

Your world is colored with happy, warm, fun colors.You have a thoughtful and wise way about you. Some people might even consider you a genius.Charming and eloquent, you are able to get people to do things your way.While you seem spontaneous and free wheeling, you are calculating to the extreme.

Your color wheel opposite is purple. You both are charismatic leaders, but purple people act like you have no depth.

Sunday, August 19, 2007

This month my first CT kit was Designs by Marguerite 3 Cheers, More 3 Cheers and More 3 Cheers Alpha. They were really fun to work with. I knew when I unzipped them I just had to use the pocket elements with keys and also the ready curled papers. This kit incorporates two of my favourite colours - blue and red. There was heaps of chunky chipboard elements, ribbons and rivets. It's a great kit to have a play with and suits a variety of photos. I made five layouts and a card and the photos included both my girls and boy and Christmas photos - that's what I call versatility. Here are a few layouts I did using the kit. You can see some more of my layouts using this kit in my CT gallery at nuts4digi.com.

...and the DID blog prompt is "What do you do on rainy days"

In our family we usually, watch some DVD's, do some craft projects, go shopping at Chadstone, maybe set up the electric cars. I love to read a good book or have some computer time.

Ok so I've fallen a bit behind in the DID blog prompts so here goes ...

Thurs Aug 16th "What is your very first memory? How old were you and what happened?"

One of my earliest memories was at kinder and I remember we has a tortiose. I also remember playing at home in the dirt near the cubby digging it up with Tonka trucks.

Fri Aug 17th "If you have had a pet - which was your favourite? If you haven't had a pet and could have ANY pet (real or imaginary) what would you have?"

At the moment we have a golden retriever called Harry and he is the most gorgeous dog. Even when the kids climb all over him he just shakes them off and walks away when it gets too much. He never barks either, I think he barked once just after his voice had changed and scared himself and he's never barked since. When I was young we had a beagle that used to wander the neighbourhood. She would sometimes come up to our school and pinch the girls lunches. We always pretended we didn't know her.

Sat Aug 18th "You need a holiday - where will you go and why? What will you do if money and time were no issue? Would you go alone?"

I would definately go on a holiday with DH. It would be hard to choose just one place because there is so much of the world I would love to see. I would probably pick first to go to Europe and visit in a leisurely manner. Staying in villas and pottering around. I love visiting all sorts of places seeing, art, historical places and also scenery and just experiencing the food and culture.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

the DID blog prompt for Wed was is "Tell us how the internet impacts on or has changed your life. This can be either the positives, the negatives or both. Reflect on things like friendships, relationships, disagreements, how in keeps you in touch with family and friends, things you have learnt etc ....'

I use the internet everyday. I get to read the opinions and ideas and converse with people I would never have met in real life. I share my passion for digiscrapping and get to view fabulous creations by people all over the world. I pay my bills and do my banking so I no longer have to spend time listening to the computerised voices over the phone. When I want DH to pick up milk on his way home I just Skype him instead of having to go through the receptionist.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

The DID blog prompt for 14th Aug is "This wednesday we have a public holiday for our local show called the Ekka. So that has made me think ....... What holidays do you enjoy and love to celebrate in your country/family? What makes that day special to you? Do you have any special traditions that are associated with your favourite holiday? How would you feel if your special holiday was suddenly taken away from you?".

On New Year's Day our family gets together with an old family friend. He is German and makes a full German lunch which is absolutely delicious. Mum makes a plum pudding. We alternate at each others holiday house. So in the years that it's at their house we catch a ferry across the bay to Sorrento. I love this dinner and look forward to it. He makes these potato dumplings that are so yum and it's the only time we ever have them. If there's leftovers I try to snag them to have cold on toast the next day. After we've all stuffed ourselves full of good food we all them move onto schnapps shots. Our friend insists that it eats the fats - LOL. I think most traditions for our fammily revolve around food.

DID prompt for Aug 13th was "What has been your favourite or least favourite job?"

You're going to think I'm really weird here but when I still lived at home in the holidays we used to help mum clean the house and my sisters and I used to divvy up the jobs. I always chose to clean the bathrooms and toilets. For those wondering - NO I do not think these are enjoyable but I find it oddly satisfying to see them clean at the end. The funny thing is, when we go away together now I still look after the bathrooms and she looks after the floors.

Monday, August 13, 2007

The blog prompt at DID for 11th August was "What are 2 everyday items you can't live without?" (I know I'm behind again).

This is a hard one - I'd have to say I need my computer. Although I could live without it life just wouldn't be as fun and my car. I know that's not very PC with global warming and everything but we don't live in walking distance to school or any of the kids activities and I can't imagine how much more difficult my life would be if I had to bundle three young kids on public transport every day, not to mention the shopping, extracurricular activities etc.

Sunday, August 12, 2007

The next DID blog prompt is "What do you sense you're supposed to do before your life is over?"

Being a Christian I believe that God has a purpose for my life but in practical terms I'm still working through what that means. Being a mum I really believe one of my major purposes is to provide the right encouragement and environment for my kids to grow up into mature, capable and responsible adults. I pray that they will come to know Jesus and have their own faith, be able to make good decisions and have good relationships but I know that I can't make that happen but also that it is a major purpose in my life to help them on their journey.

I would also like to have made a difference to the people in the wider community, maybe not in a huge look at me way but just in those small things that over time can make a big difference.

Friday, August 10, 2007

the DID blog prompt for today is "What would you do with an extra $100 dollars a week?"

At the moment I'm obssessed with going skiing but $100 would only get me one days lift ticket - and a couple of hot chocolates. Although if we take it as US$100 I could stretch it a bit further but if I go with the skiing idea I'd have to leave DH and the kids home (hmm - that's a plan). Of course it would be good in our mortgage or renovation fund but that's pretty boring (and probably what I would do) For the sake of this exercise I'll go with some fun and/or frivolous things:

Scrapping products that I just love but would probably only use once.

I could put a couple weeks together and get some new lens

Tripod

Photography course

New sheets (OK not frivolous but I just remembered we need some because the ones we've got have worn through in the middle)

Cleaner and ironing lady (hehe)

Books - love books but then I'd need some new bookshelves and a bigger house.

I am going to try to follow the blog prompts at designs in digitals but I'm already behind - LOL.Yesterday's was "Your closest childhood friend - what was she like?"

I became friends with Helen when I was in Primary school. She was the youngest of 4 girls and had sisters already in high school so she knew about a lot more than me. She lived at the top of our court and we used to spend most afternoons at one or the others house. We made cubbies, talked, laughed, listened to her big sisters music. I went to Lake Eildon one time with her parents, we stayed on a house boat. I remember jumping in for a swim and being worried about what was under the water beacause we were swimming around all the dead trees. Then we took our towels to the shore and layed them out on the grass and the got covered in bindies and we got bitten by march flies. In year 4 I moved schools and because of that she said I was a snob. I tried to keep the friendship but she always seemed to be playing with her new friends. I was very lonely.

When we were both at uni we met one day on the train. I told her I wasn't a snob and she agreed but that was just the way things were back then. The funny thing is we still really got on well together and started going out clubbing and had a ball. I haven't seen her now for over 12 years beacuse we both moved out of home.

Monday, August 6, 2007

We took the family skiing at Mt Buller for the first time on the weekend. The weather was cold and snowy and the visibilty was terrible, but it was good to have nice fresh, soft snow. It was quite hard up the top because you need to traverse across the top and we didn't know the mountain and were hoping we were heading in the right direction. We didn't want to get lost when we were due to pick the kids up from ski school. Bourke St is quite choatic. Geoff thinks it should be classified a black run because of all the "obstacles". This is photo looking down to the bottom of Bourke St. Hayley skied with Geoff and I on Friday afternoon and Saturday then did a day at ski school. On Sunday afternoon a lot of kids went home from ski school early so it was just Hayley and one other girl left in the afternoon in brown cockies. She started learning to pole plant which she hadn't done before and they also had a go on the rails at the terrain park. Hayley wasn't too sure about that. I managed to catch some photos of her coming back to ski school.

Ethan did really well. His instructor described him as a "real goer". He got out onto Bourke St and rode up on the chairlift but he needs to be lifted onto the lift because he's too short.